John Dalli, European Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, has told MEPs he was seriously considering tougher EU legislation to make food and feed safety systems more efficient.

Addressing the European Parliament on the recent incident in Germany, in which animal feed was tainted with dioxin, Mr Dalli said investigations so far had not shown up any health risks for humans. The Commission, however, was considering whether steps should be taken to prevent a repeat.

“This incident has highlighted the necessity to ensure the effectiveness of national control systems which underpin the confidence of all EU member states and third countries in our food and feed safety measures,” he told MEPs.

“To address these issues, the Commission is exploring the possibility of establishing a strict segregation of the production of fats and oils intended for feed and food purposes from the production of fats and oils for technical uses and the possibility of legal requirements for reinforced controls on dioxins at different stages of the food chain,” he said.

EU member states oversee food safety within their own territories but the European Commission coordinates them when cross-border problems arise.

The latest dioxin scare erupted when a German company mixed dioxin-tainted industrial oil with oil intended for animal feed. According to reports, dioxin-contaminated eggs then got into the UK and the Netherlands while pork from farms suspected to have received the tainted feed was sent to Poland and the Czech Republic. Denmark, France and Italy were also thought to have received potentially contaminated goods. South Korean and China banned imports of German pork and poultry, although the EU said there was no justification for this.

At they tried to contain the problem, the German authorities temporarily barred about 5,000 farms from selling eggs, poultry and pork. All but several hundred were subsequently cleared and allowed to resume business but 934 farms had to be closed after officials learned that a company in Lower Saxony had failed to disclose it had delivered dioxin-contaminated feed to them.

According to the German authorities, the amount of dioxin detected in food as a result of the feed contamination poses no immediate threat to human health. There is evidence, however, that long-term exposure to dioxin could lead to a range of health issues, including cancer.

Mr Dalli said Commission experts would be visiting Germany next week to make sure the situation was under control and that all the requirements under EU law to treat such incidents were in place.

What are dioxins?

Dioxins are chemicals that get into our food from the environment. They have no immediate effect on our health but can cause problems if they are absorbed into our bodies at high levels for long periods.

Foods high in animal fat, such as fish, meat, eggs and dairy products (and foods produced with them) are the main source of dioxins although all food contains at least low levels of these chemicals.

The risk to health comes from eating food with high levels of dioxins over a long period. They have been shown to cause a wide range of effects in certain animals, including cancer and damage to the immune and reproductive systems, although it appears people could be less sensitive.

Where do they come from?

Dioxins have never been produced intentionally. They can be formed as unwanted by-products in a variety of industrial and combustion processes, including household fires. Most industrial releases of dioxins are strictly controlled under pollution prevention and control regulations. Dioxins from these sources could be released in small quantities into the air, water or land. Animals and fish then take them up from their food and any soil and sediment they take in while they feeding.

The chemicals are absorbed into their body fat, where they accumulate.

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